


we can always be chasing the sun

by mysilenceknot



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-10
Updated: 2017-11-10
Packaged: 2019-01-31 14:27:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12683745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysilenceknot/pseuds/mysilenceknot
Summary: 10:35 Iris West-Allen: at Jitters, I think your crush is here.10:36 Barry Allen: what10:36 Iris West-Allen: wow, he’s even cuter in person. *winking emoji*10:37 Barry Allen: again, what





	we can always be chasing the sun

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this for _months_ and Nanowrimo was a great opportunity to finish it once and for all.  
>  This fic also references Iris/Laurel and Barry/Hal. Title comes from [Chasing the Sun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFFberbflbU) by Sara Bareilles.

23:01 Barry Allen: I am going to be much later than I expected  
23:02 Barry Allen: shit I hope you didn’t fall asleep yet  
23:04 Iris West-Allen: zzz  
23:04 Iris West-Allen: see you tomorrow.

//

Iris was almost finished making breakfast when she heard her husband enter the kitchen.

“Morning, darling!” she called out as she flipped the veggie omelet in the pan.

“Morning.” Barry replied. He looked slightly groggy with sleep as he walked into the room. Iris smiled as he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, kissing her cheek before resting his chin on her shoulder. “I didn’t expect you to cook this morning.”

“Didn’t you know I’m constantly full of surprises, Mr. Allen?” She gently nudged him away as she took the pan off of the stove; Barry immediately took the hint. At normal speed he grabbed dishes from the cabinet to set the table. Iris took a plate of waffles and a plate of bacon out of the warming pan. Barry grabbed juice, syrup, and butter from the fridge. It didn’t take long between the two of them to get the dining room table ready to eat.

“How did the conference go?” Iris asked after she’d filled her plate.

“So good, it was so good Iris. Sorry that I made it home so late.”

“No worries. I’m just glad you texted me.”

“Of course.” Barry gave her a warm smile. “You know the last thing I want to do is worry you.”

“Sappy,” she said, yet she was unable to resist smiling back at him. “Anything interesting happen at night?”

“Yeah! I met a guy at the conference.”

“Oh?” Iris watched Barry’s eyes light up with excitement before he launched into his story.

“He was one of the presenters on an engineering panel – Dr. Francisco Ramon – and he was the guy who co-wrote that paper I told you about that was on sonic pulses, remember that paper?”

“Nope! Not one bit!”

Barry paused for a fraction of a second to give Iris an exaggerated frown, but Iris knew he didn’t expect her to be able to focus on even a third of the papers he rambled about. “Anyways, he was there with Hartley and during dinner Hartley introduced us.” His fork slowly dropped as he looked past Iris with a dreamy smile. “We talked about the study of organometallics in the uses of integratable prosthetics and went to one of those all hours bistros that sever wine and traded stories about grad school.”

“Someone has a crush,” Iris sing-songed as she reached out to stab a strawberry off her husband’s plate. Barry blinked back into reality and immediately began to splutter.

“No, I don’t! He’s just a brilliant scientist and I’ve been into his work since I read his dissertation.”

“What was he wearing last night?”

“He had this dark red jacket paired with a black shirt and he had his hair tied up in a bun.”

Iris raised her eyebrow. “I never asked about his hair.”

“It… it was an important aspect of his look last night.”

“Uh-huh. Totally not a crush.” She reached out to snag another strawberry but was stopped by Barry lightly knocking her fork away.

“There’s literally a bowl of fruit next to you on the table.”

“Yea, but the ones on your plate taste better.” Iris speared another of his strawberries and Barry didn’t attempt to stop her. This was a standard part of their relationship even back when they were just friends – one person would steal food, the other would protest to no avail. She gave him an innocent smile as he grumbled and grabbed more strawberries and waffles to put on his plate. “So, did he give you his number?”

Barry shoved a large forkful of the omelet into his mouth. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “I’m eating.”

Iris laughed with delight. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“We’d just exchanged business cards!”

“That’s so cute!”

“Iris,” Barry whined. He’d blushed harder and harder as breakfast had progressed. Iris finally had pity on him, reaching out to grab his hand and fiddle with his gold wedding band.

“Okay, okay,” she said. “But I do want you to know that it’s okay if you do. You know I love you, right?”

“Never doubted it for a minute.”

“Good.” Iris and Barry smiled at each other. Iris reached over to steal another strawberry.

//

11:14 Iris West-Allen: guess who has a new crush.  
11:20 Laurel Lance: Ooooh tell me more. What are they like? How would you rank their cuteness?  
11:22 Iris West-Allen: what?  
11:22 Iris West: oh no it’s not me it’s Barry.  
11:22 Iris West: he met a nice scientist last night.  
11:30 Laurel Lance: Nice.

 

* * *

 

7:45 Laurel Lance: Good morning, sunshine!  
7:45 Laurel Lance: The Earth Says Hello!  
7:56 Iris West-Allen: ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  
7:57 Iris West-Allen: why did I let you convince me to stay out so late?  
7:59 Laurel Lance: Who, me? I’m innocent.  
8:02 Laurel Lance: [selfie of Laurel holding a coffee mug. the judge’s clerks can be seen moving around papers] Love court days.  
8:15: Iris West-Allen: no.

/

8:20 Iris West-Allen: why didn't you tell me that drinking on a Sunday with Laurel would be a bad idea?  
8:25 Felicity Smoak: LOL don't look @ me I know better than that

/

10:20 Iris West-Allen: one coffee isn’t gonna get me through today.  
10:23 Linda Park-West: dude there’s a pot across the room  
10:25 Iris West-Allen: fuck it to Jitters I go.  
10:25 Linda Part-West: didnt we agree to not spend money on coffee this week  
10:27 Iris West-Allen: I’ve already left lol I’ll get you some biscotti dw.

/

10:35 Iris West-Allen: at Jitters, I think your crush is here.  
10:36 Barry Allen: what  
10:36 Iris West-Allen: wow, he’s even cuter in person. *winking emoji*  
10:37 Barry Allen: again, what

//

Cisco Ramon was a firm believer in coffee breaks. Specifically, coffee breaks outside of the office. It wasn’t as if STAR Labs didn’t have it’s own coffee shops on the properties because it did - five of them, in fact. Those shops were completely separate from the other mini marts scattered in various buildings, including the building Cisco spent most of his time in. But when one’s life is mostly spent in one area due to the intensity of research and paperwork, it’s very important to get away to breathe.

He took his coffee break at Jitters at 10:15 every morning, which meant that even on days he showed up later to the office, he would have worked a solid two hours before taking a breather.

While the baristas knew him, his top three orders, and his general Jitters routine, very few patrons even bothered paying attention to the man in business casual who sat near the back corner near the fire escape, and Cisco liked it that way.

Which is why he was completely thrown out of his book when he heard --

“Dr. Ramon?”

Cisco’s phone clattered out of his hands and he looked up to see a beautiful woman looking down at him, a to-go cup firmly in one of her hands. “Uhhh, yes? Can I help you?”

“Sorry for startling you,” she said with an apologetic smile. “I’m Iris West-Allen, reporter for CCPN.” She stuck her hand out and he shook it warily.

“Hello. If you’re looking for a scoop on any of the projects STAR Lab is working on, you’d need to schedule an appointment through our HR department.”

“Oh! Sorry, that was a reflex.” Iris West-Allen’s laugh was bright and immediately helped reduce the nervousness that had built during the short interaction. “I’m not here on any official news, I was just kind of stunned to see you in person?”

“Do you follow my research?”

“Nope!”

“Then... what...?”

“You met my husband a few weeks ago, Dr. Bartholomew Allen? Taller than me, lanky, very excitable.” 

“His first name’s Bartholomew?” Cisco couldn’t help but blurt out. At no point in time during the convention was Barry Allen referred to with his full name and even though it totally made sense, that’s not at all what Cisco would have thought would even come up in a conversation connected to him.

Iris took a sip of her drink after laughing again. “I just wanted to meet the renowned scientist in question.”

Cisco felt warm, a combination of knowing this bright woman came up to talk to him even though she didn’t have to and knowing that Barry Allen had mentioned him to his wife. They’d exchanged business cards and personal numbers at the conference but there’d been no communication since then. And now Cisco was curious...

“Anyways,” Iris West-Allen said, disrupting his thoughts. “I’ve got to head back into work. It was nice meeting you, Dr. Ramon.”

“Cisco,” he said. “You can call me Cisco. And it was nice meeting you too.”

Iris flashed him that warm smile again. “Hope to run into you again, Cisco.”

//

10:44 Iris West-Allen: guess who just met Dr. Ramon!  
10:45 Barry Allen: ????? you did WHAT

/

10:58 Cisco Ramon: bartholomew?  
11:01 Barry Allen:  oh god

/

11:02 Barry Allen: I am filing for divorce right now and will not make you dinner tonight

 

* * *

 

13:30 Iris West-Allen: wish you were here!  
13:31 Iris West-Allen: [selfie with Laurel and Linda; Laurel is shooting a peace sign but looking away from the camera while Iris makes a cheesy pout. Linda doesn’t seem to be paying attention to the activities happening around her.]  
13:33 Barry Allen: LOL no you don’t  
13:34 Iris West-Allen: you know me so well. *laughing emoji*

/

15:09 Cisco Ramon: CREPES  
15:10 Iris West-Allen: YES.  
15:10 Iris West-Allen: I told you they were good! I’m almost jealous.  
15:11 Cisco Ramon: ahhhhhhhhh /crepes/

//

Every now and then, one of them would have a business conference to attend to. And if schedules were clear, Barry and Iris often tried to go to at least one conference with their significant other. It was nice to be a support, even better to get a mini vacation away from their hectic lives.

Unfortunately, the annual ACS event in the region took place the same weekend as a journalism conference that Iris had been stoked about for months. And it was fine, really, but Barry had gotten so used to being with Iris during this particular event that he felt weird going alone.

So he’d asked Cisco, and Cisco said yes, and now they were at a French cafe during one of the talks that neither Barry nor Cisco had been interested in seeing. It was always so great to hang out with Cisco and Barry had been thrilled by Cisco’s enthusiastic response to the invite.

“Did you hear about Hartley?” Cisco said casually after putting his phone down.

“What  _about_  Hartley?” It wasn’t like Barry and Hartley weren’t friends. It took them a long time to be able to get along, but now they were friends. Just not at all close friends.

“Well. So. You know how he and his partner broke up?”

“Uhhhhh...”

“All you need to know is that it’s really not good to cheat on someone technologically advanced enough to sabotage all of your technology,” Cisco explained with a wave of his hand. “Anyways. Apparently he and Sebastian Faust have been seen together.”

“Wait, is that the dude who ironically became a professor of literature? And made regional news after he exploded during the interview when the person who mistakenly assumed that he did his PhD thesis on  _Faust_?”

“Yes!” Cisco let out a delightful cackle. “It’s made my entire week better.”

Of all of the things that Barry had expected during this weekend conference, the conversation he was having with Cisco was not one of them. “You’re just like Iris,” Barry said, shaking his head.

“I’m taking that as the highest compliment you could have ever given me.” Cisco replied. “Plus I can judge an ex all I want so.”

“You and Hartley are exes?”

Cisco took another huge bite out of his Nutella and strawberry crepe. He closed his eyes as he chewed and Barry could tell he was barely holding in a moan from how delicious it was. Barry rolled his eyes. Cisco and Iris were much more alike than they realized.

“Yes, we actually broke up while we were writing that paper you love so much.”

“Oh god. How did you manage to end up completing that without destroying each other?”

Cisco grinned. “Who says we didn’t destroy each other?”

Before Barry could respond to that curious question, sirens blared through the room. Instinctively he quickly stood from his chair, barely noticing that Cisco had risen at the same time as him.

“Alert: Unknown activity has triggered an avalanche. Please follow safety protocols and evacuate the building.” 

Barry turned to look at Cisco, frantically trying to find an excuse to disappear during the evacuation. But before he could say anything Cisco firmly stated “I’m gonna help with the evacuation, go ahead with everyone else.”

“Will do. See you when everything’s settled?”

Cisco nodded his head before moving to where families were seated at the other end of the café. Barry took the opportunity to move downstairs as quickly as possible without using his speed and gaining immediate attention. There was a bathroom near where the patrons were being evacuated so Barry stepped in, put in an earpiece and put on his ring. He clicked the ring and jumped into his suit before speeding outside.

The avalanche seemed to have been triggered at the beginning of the ski slope; as Barry ran to the source he turned on this ear piece.“League, there’s an avalanche where I am. But the place it started looks suspicious.”

There were a few moments of silence before Supergirl spoke. “It looks like I’m the closest to your location. Superman, can you be set for backup if we need it?”

“Just say the word and I’ll be there.” 

Barry looked around to figure out his priorities. There were definitely people trapped so they had to be evacuated first. Supergirl could scan the area for any abnormalities that could have triggered the avalanche. Within seconds Barry began running inside the snow.

A voice crackled through the earpiece, a voice that wasn’t quite recognizable. “JLA Detroit member Vibe speaking. I’m present at the scene as well.”

“Good,” Barry said. “We’ll need all the help we can get.”

When Barry brought a couple up from the snow, he got ready to run them down to where it was safe. He was stopped by his title being called out. “Flash!” Barry turned to see Vibe, a hero he’d heard about but hadn’t had the opportunity to work with until this moment. “I have an idea.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“You find people in the show, I’ll portal them to safety.”

Perfect idea. Quick thinking was necessary to be a good hero, and being able to immediately work in a team with whoever you had? Even better. Barry nodded and began running back through the snow. He heard the whoosh of one of Vibe’s portals right as he reached another person trapped. Hopefully they’d be able to avoid casualties today.

//

02:02 Cisco Ramon: i had a really great time this weekend  
02:03 Barry Allen: I’m glad, me too  
02:04 Barry Allen: thanks for joining me on such short notice  
02:04 Barry Allen: and no offense to my wife but it’s so nice to go to conferences where everyone is speaking the same language with little explaining to do  
02:06 Cisco Ramon: hahaha  
02:07 Cisco Ramon: Im telling her you said that  
02:07 Barry Allen: NO

/

02:10 Cisco Ramon: hey thanks for letting your husband steal me for the weekend also hes glad I went bc then he didnt have to explain the science to you  
08:23 Iris West-Allen: *three unamused emojis*  
08:25 Iris West-Allen: I should be thanking you because if he went with ME he would have just made that “oh no I don’t know what anyone’s talking about but I’m pretending not to be confused” face the entire time.  
08:29 Cisco Ramon: any time, any time

 

* * *

 

17:42 Barry Allen: hey I’m home early  
17:54 Barry Allen: dinner?  
17:58 Iris West-Allen: absolutely no preference tonight.  
18:00 Barry Allen: :/

//

Barry was unusually quiet one Friday evening. He’d been a toned down version of his chipper self when Iris came home from work and Iris had chalked it up to exhaustion. It wouldn’t have been the first time where Barry overworked himself in the hopes he could finish all of his projects before the weekend, which easily explained why he was gone when Iris had woken up that morning. 

He’d surprised her by making chicken alfredo for dinner, a dish easily in her top ten dinners that Barry cooked. And while he was pretty quiet after they had their normal ‘what did you do today’ conversation, a silent dinner wasn’t completely uncharacteristic. But as dinner progressed, he’d taken a significantly long time to eat, pushing his food around his plate as if he was stuck in his own world.

“Hey, you okay?” she asked about half way through their meal. It took second but Barry looked up from his plate to give her a wide, unconvincing smile.

“I’m okay! Don’t worry.” An obvious lie.

Iris waited until she was washing dishes post dinner to approach the subject again. Barry was putting the alfredo in tupperware when Iris asked, “what’s going on?” He hummed, putting the pot on the counter next to her.

“Nothing much, it’s cool.”

“Did you know you’re a really bad liar, Mr. Allen?”

“What? Me?” He laughed nervously. “Never heard that one before.” Iris stopped talking, focusing on cleaning the serving dishes while she waited for Barry to finally figure himself up. She heard him sigh and lean against the fridge.

“I baked vanilla pound cake earlier.”

“That’s nice,” she said without turning around.

“I’m gonna make some tea and then I’ll tell you, okay?”

It was now Iris’s turn to hum. “Alright, when I’m done I’ll be in the living room waiting.”

Barry leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you.”

It didn’t take very long for Iris to finish the last of the pots and wipe down the sink and counter and make her way to the living room. The fact that Barry was stalling as he prepared the tea and cake made her more and more anxious. What happened? Was there bad news he was hiding from her? Did he do something? She couldn’t help but fidget with one of the throw pillows as she stared forward at the silent television.

When Barry finally came back, he handed Iris one mug with cinnamon spiced tea and put the tray of pound cake on the coffee table. Iris slowly sipped her tea as Barry sat down next to her on the couch. She remained silent, waiting for him to compose his thoughts.

"I wanted to start off by saying I love you more than life itself. You being in my life is the best thing that's ever happened to me.” Iris felt her panic increase but kept her mouth shut. “And I don’t want this to change anything but. I think I really like Cisco.”

“Oh my god, Barry.” She put her cup down so she could punch him in the arm without sloshing her tea. “Do you have any idea how fucking scared I was?”

“Ah, shit. I’m sorry.”

“Okay. Okay. So you like Cisco.” Iris broke off the corner of a slice of cake and picked up her tea again, waiting for her heart to stop racing.

“Yes." Barry looked shockingly miserable at the confession, which confused Iris. Just a little bit.

“First off, thank you for telling me. Second off, why do you look like this is the end of the world? You like Cisco. Now we just have to talk about what we do with that information.”

“I didn’t want you to get mad at me.”

“What? Why would I get mad at you? You and Hal have been together for  _years_  and I’ve never been mad about that. And you’ve never indicated that you’re upset about me and Laurel.”

“I know but-” Barry seemed to struggle transforming his thoughts into words. “It’s different. We’re married now. Plus, Cisco doesn’t know about me being the Flash so that’s opening a whole different can of worms.”

That made a lot of sense, now that Iris was thinking of the larger implications. There were very few people who knew about Barry’s secret identity, even within their own respective friend groups. It was for the best, for the safety of all of them, and letting someone else into the relationship could put everyone in danger. 

“Do you trust him?” Iris asked.

Barry paused, closing his eyes for a few moments. “Yes. Yes, I do.”

Iris reached out and grabbed one of his hands in her own. “Okay then. So. Invite him to come over. We’ll figure it out like we always do.”

In seconds Barry surged over and kissed her firmly. She placed her empty mug on the floor so she could kiss him back. “Thank you,” he whispered in between kisses. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

//

21:15 Barry Allen: hi. are you free this weekend?  
21:20 Cisco Ramon: yup. sup?  
21:22 Barry Allen: you are cordially invited to lunch at the West-Allen home. tomorrow at 1-ish?  
21:31 Cisco Ramon: that sounds good! is it ok if i bring over a bottle of the finest wine central city has to offer?  
21:32 Barry Allen: define ‘finest’  
21:33 Cisco Ramon: it’s more than ten (10) dollars  
21:35 Barry Allen: wellllll I guess that’s fine then  
21:36 Cisco Ramon: kk! im stoked *dancing emoji*

/

22:51 Iris West-Allen: I just had a talk with Barry and WOW  
22:57 Laurel Lance: ?  
22:57 Laurel Lance: You okay babe?  
22:59 Iris West-Allen: I’m fine, just missing you. dinner on Monday?  
23:04 Laurel Lance: I’ll clear my schedule ;)

 

* * *

 

 

11:30 Wally West: dude I can hear you panicking from Gotham rn  
11:31 Wally West: chill  
11:33 Barry Allen: did Iris tell you I'm not being chill? I'm totally chill  
11:34 Barry Allen: also why are you in Gotham  
11:45 Wally West: meeting with Bruce. but you don't know that/didn't hear it from me  
11:46 Wally West: when you both get ulcers I'll laugh  
11:48 Barry Allen: jokes on you super healing  
11:49 Wally West: when my sister divorces  you for giving her an ulcer I'll laugh

//

He had nothing to be worried about. Barry knew he had nothing to be worried about. Iris had told him he had nothing to be worried about. So. He wasn’t worried and there was nothing to worry about.

“Please don’t hyperventilate, Barry,” Iris called out towards him from the kitchen. She’d kicked him out of the kitchen after he’d kept pacing and pacing and distracting her. So now he was pacing near the landing area instead. His heart was in his throat.

“This was a bad idea,” Barry said in a decisive tone. He walked back into the kitchen.

“How so?”

“He’s gonna think I’m weird and stop talking to me and then I’ll feel like a fool.”

“Unlikely.” Iris moved past him to begin setting the table. “Even if he thinks you’re weird, is he really gonna throw away a friendship over this? It’s not like we’re inviting him to a threesome.”

Okay, he had to admit she had a really good point. This was nowhere near “we-think-you’re-hot-wanna-fuck?” territory. But that didn’t make him calm down one bit. With Hal it’d been so easy. So, so easy. They’d crossed paths occasionally before Barry’s powers appeared, but it wasn’t long after Barry had gotten the hang of being the Flash that he’d teamed up with the Green Lantern.

This was something completely different because even though there had been other relationships that had tried and failed, those had been in stages before he was even ready to propose to Iris. Barry moved so he was resting against the counter instead of the fridge after Iris waved her hand at him. The last time he’d been anywhere close to the level of nervousness and panic that was surging through him was the hour leading up to presenting his dissertation. Not counting, of course, times where he’d almost died, where Iris had almost died, where  _Wally_ had almost died...

“At least no one’s gonna die tonight,” he laughed nervously.

Iris turned to stare at him in disbelief and pushed a bowl of salad into his chest. “I changed my mind,” she said, “focusing on setting the table will at least keep you from doing whatever the hell that was again.” She grabbed a slice of cucumber from the bowl while he passed before continuing. “But you’re absolutely right. This isn’t life or death. You’ll be fine. What did Hal even say?”

“He said... I should invite him to a threesome.”

Iris was still laughing when the doorbell rang. She’d distracted him from his nerves, at least.

When he opened the door, Cisco was smiling brightly and holding up a bottle of red wine. “Hey!”

“Hey!" Barry’s nerves didn’t go away, but that smile always made him want to smile even more. He held the door open for Cisco to pass through and greet Iris who was, at least, laughing in a charmed and giggly way. Barry leaned his head against the door as it shut and took a deep breath.

//

14:16 Hal Jordan: did Cisco say yes???? are all my wildest dreams coming true????  
14:25 Iris West-Allen: one: why are you texting me, two: why are you texting me this, three: he hasn’t gotten there yet.  
14:28 Hal Jordan: I mean we both know what my #1 dream is ;)  
14:30 Iris West-Allen: blocked.  
14:30 Iris West-Allen: I literally can’t stand you. *unamused emoji*  
14:31 Hal Jordan: *5 kissing emojis*

/

19:02 Iris West-Allen: are you in Coast City?  
19:03 Hal Jordan: ya  
19:03 Iris West-Allen: Barry’s headed your way.  
19:04 Hal Jordan: I take it’s not all sunshine and roses then?????  
19:05 Iris West-Allen: ehhhhhhhh he’ll be fine but he’s gonna head your way for the night.  
19:05: Hal Jordan: :c my poor babe  
19:05 Hal Jordan: I’ll let Carol kno-- oh wait he’s here

 

* * *

 

12:02 Cynthia Reynolds: so? What’s it gonna be  
12:13 Cisco Ramon: ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  
12:16 Cynthia Reynolds: Cisco for the love of god  
12:20 Cisco Ramon: how am I even supposed to start the convo?  
12:23 Cynthia Reynolds: say hi?  
12:24 Cisco Ramon: thats not what I meant  
12:24 Cynthia Reynolds: I know! *laughing emoji*  
12:24 Cisco Ramon: *angry emoji*

/

Cisco Ramon 13:33: hi  
Barry Allen 13:33: hi  
Cisco Ramon 13:34: thank u for giving me space for the last week. im ready to talk now  
Cisco Ramon 13:35: are you free to do dinner at my place tonight?  
Barry Allen 13:35: I need to check w/some ppl but I’ll let you know

/

13:36 Barry Allen: will you all forgive me if I miss family dinner to see Cisco instead?  
13:39 Wally West: GO  
13:40 Linda Park-West: GO GO GO  
13:41 Iris West-Allen: omg  
13:41 Iris West-Allen: I’m okay with that, we’ll just hang out w/o you  
13:42 Barry Allen: thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you

/

13:42 Barry Allen: I’m free now! what time?  
13:46 Cisco Ramon: six? dinner & a movie  
13:46 Barry Allen: can’t wait

//

It’d been a long week. An extremely long week.

Cisco had spent most of the week at work, doing as much work as possible so he could distract himself from the previous Saturday’s lunch.

When Cisco had met Barry at the conference almost a year ago, as soon as he noticed the shining gold band on Barry’s left hand he immediately put back the potential for developing feelings for this weird, charming, attractive dude. And they’d become close friends after Iris had sparked their communication, hanging out almost weekly when their schedules aligned.

Cisco found himself caring for Iris as much as he cared for Barry; it was exciting to be part of their world. Of all the odd things he could have expected from the couple, the last thing was to be asked out. By Barry. After Iris stepped out of the room.

He skipped work on Friday, knowing that there was no way that he’d be able to focus on any of the work available in the lab. Sleeping in? Good. Waking up super stressed out because talking about feelings was a nightmare? Not so good. So he’d been productive from the moment he woke up. Getting his house in order, buying food for dinner and snack food for the movie, going to the gym since he’d been slacking for several weeks. The vulnerability in Barry’s face when he’d asked Cisco out kept popping up through the day and by 5:40 he was trying to keep all of his panic under the surface.

Sitting on the couch, Cisco took deep breaths until he heard the doorbell ring. “It’s okay,” he muttered to himself as he moved to open the door. “It’s gonna be okay, you’ve got this.”

Barry’s face lit up when Cisco answered the door and Cisco immediately grinned back. The tension that had built in his chest left immediately – they were friends, and no matter how awkward things were they would still be friends.

“Hey!” Cisco said. “Come on in.”

“Thank you.” Barry pulled up a box of beer. “I figured we’re doing the pizza/movie type of dinner?”

Damn, Barry knew him well. “Yeah, sorry. It’s been a hectic week and I just wanted to eat grease and chill, right?”

“Nice.”

Cisco didn’t have to fake his comfort around Barry as they grabbed their slices of pizza and turned on the tv. It was so nice. He felt so warm. The speech he prepared was still running through his head but he could focus on the feeling of being with his best friend. That was the important part.

Halfway through the movie Barry smoothly changed the subject. “So. Did you want to talk?”

“Goddamn it, Barry.” Cisco sighed, wiping chip dust from his hands onto his pants.

“I mean, we don’t have to if you don’t want to!” Barry stammered, a slight look of panic on his face. “If you aren’t ready then I respect that because you’re my friend and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry.” He took a deep breath before shifting on the couch so he could see Barry better. “So. About last week. So.”

Barry looked super nervous, almost as nervous as he felt. Why was talking about feelings so hard?

“So you asked me out and I told you I needed to think about it. And I’ve talked to a lot of people and thought about it.” He paused; Barry stayed silent. “I hadn’t thought about the potential of having feelings for you. You’re married, that’s an immediate deterrent.” Barry bit his lip but still kept quiet. “This week was a lot of me talking to a lot of my friends and trying to untangle my feelings for you and what that’d mean for not only us but Iris.”

“She said she was fine,” Barry blurted. “I talked to her before we decided to do dinner as a trio.”

“No, I know. I called her earlier in this week because I had a lot of questions. She told me about her relationship with Laurel and that made me feel a little better.”

Cisco grabbed the remote to pause the movie – it was getting to one of his favorite parts and they had to finish talking to watch the pivotal scene.

“Before anything else, I want to thank you for putting so much trust in me.”

“You’re one of my best friends, Cisco. Why wouldn’t I trust you?”

Abruptly, Cisco stood up. “Can you trust me in return?” he asked, reaching one hand out for Barry to take. Barry grabbed his hand and stood up. Taking a deep breath, Cisco pulled a portal open, pulling Barry along with him as they landed on the Star Labs roof.

“Holy shit, what?”

“I talked to Mari about you. I actually talked to the entire Detroit crew on what to do.”

“Wait, Mari? Mari McCabe?” Cisco nodded his head. Barry looked stunned, as if he was trying to put all the pieces together. In Cisco’s opinion, it took longer than it should have for someone with superspeed, but he tried not to judge. It was, he supposed, a big thing to try to process. “Holy fuck,” Barry whispered. “You’re Vibe.”

“Yes.”

“Holy – wait, shit, does that mean you know what I think you know?”

“Yes,” Cisco confirmed. “I didn’t think about it at all until the avalanche triggered by Quakemaster but the more and more I talked to the JLA this last week the more it became clear to me. Hawkgirl figured it out first actually, but didn’t tell me until I asked her. And as much as I wanted to vibe to see for myself, I’ve made a commitment to not using my powers on people unless it’s absolutely necessary.”

“So… who knows who you are?”

“Other than the Detroit team?” He laughed, looking up at the starry sky. “My brother Dante knows, Superman knows, J’onn J'onzz knows, the superior Green Lantern knows –”

“Are you calling my boyfriend inferior?” Barry joked.

“Did I lie tho? You do know the other Green Lantern’s identity, right?”

“Fine. John Stewart aka Green Lantern 2.0 knows.”

Cisco laughed, turning to look at Barry. Barry was smiling at him fondly, a look that he’d seen directed at Iris many times but hadn’t been directed at him yet. Up until this moment. He walked closer to Barry. There’d been a slight distance between them since they’d landed and now that everything was out in the open, he could say what he really wanted to say.

“I like you back.” Barry’s eyes widened at the words. “I actually really really like you back, I just didn’t expect that I could have feelings more than the ones I have about the friendship?” Cisco reached out to grab his hand. “I don’t know what to fully expect about this or how this will work but. I want to try.”

It took a few moments for everything to catch up to Barry and when they did he grabbed Cisco into a very tight hug. “I’m so happy right now, thank you.”

The pair stood together on the Star Lab roof for several moments, hugging each other tightly as the new possibilities lay open in front of them. Eventually Cisco let go so he could grab Barry’s hand again.

“Hold on tight,” he said with a grin, and he pulled them back into his apartment.

Once they’d sat back down on the couch, Cisco quickly turned on the tv.

“Wait,” Barry said, but Cisco hushed him.

“Just watch.”

Spock and Kirk stared at each other across the glass pane that separated them. Cisco felt himself buzzing in anticipation. It wasn’t long until he was able to turn to Barry, fingers moved into the Vulcan salute. Simultaneously with Spock, he spoke to a man he loved.

“I have been, and shall always be, your friend.”

Barry’s eyes widened. He reached out to touch Cisco’s hand, matching Cisco with his own salute.

A few seconds later they started laughing. At how ridiculous they were, at how life had pulled them together, at how happy this moment was. Cisco couldn’t help but lean forward and kiss Barry. There was a beat; then Barry kissed him back. It was a slow kiss, a sweet kiss, and when they broke apart their foreheads touched.

“Live long and prosper.”

//

19:56 Barry Allen: [selfie of him and Cisco smiling. Cisco’s resting his chin on Barry’s shoulder, his arms around Barry’s torso.]  
20:05 Linda Park-West: AHHHHHHHHHH  
20:05 Wally West: holy shit  
20:05 Linda Park-West: we are all screaming right now  
20:06 Barry Allen: I KNOW  
20:06 Wally West: congrats! We’re all happy for you!  
20:06 Wally West: that also explains why my sister disappeared and hasn’t come back  
20:06 Barry Allen: thanks!!!!!!  
20:07 Barry Allen: omg

/

19:58 Iris West-Allen: Cisco I’m gonna cry  
20:03 Cisco Ramon: oh shit, im sorry  
20:04 Iris West-Allen: it’s a good cry! I’m hiding in the bathroom from my brother and his wife now  
20:04 Cisco Ramon: oh wait, did barry cancel for this?  
20:04 Iris West Allen: that’s besides the point, I’m so fucking happy right now.  
20:05 Cisco Ramon: Im really happy too.

/

19:58 Iris West-Allen: babe. /babe/.  
19:59 Barry Allen: I know  
20:00 Iris West-Allen: I’m so happy for you right now, I almost feel like crying  
20:01 Barry Allen: don’t cry! It’s okay!  
20:01 Iris West-Allen: it’s better than okay. I can’t wait to see Cisco more often.  
20:01 Barry Allen: I can’t either


End file.
